It is still about 2 months until lambing season starts here at Frelsi Farm. There is snow on the ground and the ewes are just hanging out, chewing cud and looking content. We have 15 Icelandic ewes bred for this year, 5 will be 2 winters old and are first timers. Eleven of the ewes were successfully VAI’d this year and will hopefully have lovely lambs to add new bloodlines to the flock. The other 4 were bred to the ram lambs here on the farm. Watch for the “who was bred to whom” list.
Author Archives: Elaine Clark
May Day, Mayday…Lambs, lambs, lambs!
May 1st and a wave of lambing! Six ewes all in labor at once. Ewes arguing over a prime spot to have their lambs, some quietly progressing, one baa-ing like a creature in Jurassic Park. Fortunately, for the shepherds, it was morning and the day was sunny and warm. The barn was cozy and there were jugs(pens for moms with new lambs) set up and waiting for those lambs to be born. Cindy Lou had an adorable badgerface boy on April 28, easing us in to the next wave of lambs. The Teacup , my treasured horned moorit grey ewe, presented us with a trio of ram lambs 
on April 30th. All moorit (brown) lambs, a badgerface, a solid color and a moorit grey. Very nice! Great mom!
SO here we are…Iris, a moorit horned ewe, was first to lamb. Twin ewe lambs, one solid moorit and one moorit badgerface. Up and nursing, and then off the jug, mom following along after the lambs I am carrying low to the ground so she can see them. Settled in with hay for mom and a bucket of warm sweet water.
On deck is ZuMu, a big moorit horned ewe. She presents us with a beautiful solid black ewe lamb followed by a moorit badgerface ewe. All 4 of our horned adult ewes were bred to a very handsome black badgerface lamb. He did a great job, his moorit gene showing up everywhere! Off to the jug, after a drink and the scale and a dip of iodine to the umbilical cords. That is the ritual, dry off , drink, dip, weigh, and a couple squirts of Baby Lamb Strength (a energy & vitamin rich supplement).
Coming right behind was our black horned ewe, who has yet to tell me her name! She delivered a black badgerface ewe was doing a fine job of cleaning her off and the lamb was up and nursing, not much help needed there. She seemed to be done, though I had thought she would have twins. Sóla was now pushing hard and delivering in another corner. So our black ewe was escorted to a jug and settled in. Sóla, a sweet white polled ewe, presented us with a white ewe lamb and a black grey ram lamb. He is so cute! I think he may be a homozygous grey, expressing 2 grey pattern genes. She had not a bit of trouble and though the lambs are small, they are up and nursing all on their own. She liked where she was so we made a jug around her and her family and added new straw and a basket of hay and a special warm water with some corn syrup. They love that and seem to be wary of molasses water.
I now remembered that our great big wide as a house ewe, Muffie, had had a water bag out for a while! She has lambed 4 times before and had not trouble, but this was taking too long! After corralling her into a pen, an internal check revealed 2 sets of front feet and one head…twins jammed up. I was baffled, which legs went to which lamb and where was that other head? I finally figured out that the lambs were piggyback and the top lamb’s legs were out straight next to the jaw of the bottom lamb. Sorted out, fortunately with David holding her and she cooperating, all went well and I assisted the first lamb out, a big beautiful polled black mouflon ram. He was followed by a rather stressed solid black ram who took a minute to realize he was out in the world. Both were up and going after a towelling off. Mom’s udder was so full I milked a pint of colostrum off and the boys were up and at the milk bar.
Black Spot was now bellowing like a dinosaur! A first time lamber, she was pushing so hard and letting us know this was not fun! The trouble was a very big ram, very black lamb…he was finally out. So glad she is polled, big horn buds on this boy would have been an issue! Black Spot was up on her feet and licking off her lamb. She was tired but okay, and doing a good job. She certainly deserved a nice breakfast and warm drink.
The barn was quiet except for the mother sounds of the ewes talking to their lambs. The morning had moved along into afternoon. The sun was warming the barn and there was just a gentle breeze. A good day.
Waiting …still waiting, and the tale of the hoses
There has been that lull in the lambing season that was expected, and yet seems to very long! It has not been uneventful here on the farm since that last lamb that I told you about. I have unintentionally flooded the barn! Turned on the water to the water tank, and heard the delivery truck coming up the driveway…of course there were all the dogs out there, the young and the very old and very deaf. Running out to move the old guy, and the puppy neither of whom have a clue about vehicles, the running water was completely forgotten.With the truck unloaded, and dogs herded to safety, I was off to attend to the business of the day.
Six hours later, returning to do barn check and feed the mothers and mothers- to -be, the scene was not what I had expected. 8 inches of standing water in 1/3 of the barn, and another significant area soggy! We had not planned to clean the barn until after lambing, it was in good shape and adding some new bedding would make a cozy place for the remainder of lambing season.
This was Wednesday, it was raining, everything was wet and muddy. And, the barn was just too soupy to even try to clean, we needed to wait for the water to sink in…glad the floor is dirt! The ewes were herded into the dryest area, so they would not be knee deep , or even ankle deep in water and muck. They were crowded but on dry ground.
Thursday , still raining but the forecast is for a sunny dry weekend. Waters receding some and just wet and very mucky and ankle deep slop.
Friday, still showers but the floor is improving and the weather forecast promising . Took all the extra stuff out of the barn, the feeders, the extra panels and gates, the jug pens dismantled, the buckets and brooms and rakes and pitch forks, extra sheets of plywood, water tank, hoses. all outside ready for the tractor to be able to remove the bedding pack.
Saturday, sunny warm dry with a light breeze. Sheep moved out side to a paddock with sufficiently dry ground for a couple days and nights. The trouble with that area is the steep incline to get there and back, and the big wide sheep that are trying to maneuver it with out incident. And, they are thinking they can graze there….wrong, no grass yet.
Tractor moving the bedding to a not too muddy area, all is well….the a hydraulic hose on the bucket ruptures! Of course it is Saturday afternoon… Grateful for the weather, predicted to last through Monday. Grateful for the hydraulic hose repair place that opens at 7:30 on Monday morning.
The good hose incident is the puppy finding the joys of water magically issuing from that mysterious tube…
Monday, hose repaired, barn cleaned, pens all reassembled, feeders in place, jugs rebuilt for lambing, sheep all back in their areas, moms-to -be, moms and babies, unbred ewes, and the dairy goats and kids. (yes, there are two sets of twins). A lovely sunset…and still waiting for lambs.
April 12 Went to the barn to check on the Swiss Girls, my two Oberhasli goats that are due to kid any day now. No kids… but I did find two white lambs springing around in the barn and a proud Peggy Sue there with her babies. Surprise! All warm and dry with full bellies. What a good mom.
I had not expected any lambs until next week. She wins a gold star again. She was the last to lamb last year when she was a one winter old girl,and had beautiful twins. This year she presented us with our first VAI Icelandic lambs of the year, white twins out of AI sire, Hnallur. We imported semen from Iceland last fall and successfully bred 4 ewes. Still to lamb are Helen’s Girl our oldest ewe now, bred to Krapi, O’Grady bred to Sigurfari, and Sadie, bred to Krapi.
Warm day today, actually felt like Spring! The honeybees were flying and coming back with pollen baskets full, great thighfuls of yellow pollen. They found the pussy willows and crocus and snow drops…and the red maple looks like it will be flowering soon. One hive did not make it through the last very cold days in March, but this hive seems to be thriving … 
AND, the garden is rototilled and 2 varieties of spinach and 3 kinds of kale planted. Onions ready to transplant and the garlics are growing. Tomorrow the peas! and maybe some lettuce too. 
April 15 Out to do barn check last night at 10pm and all was quiet, no goats kidding, only one sheep that was due soon, O’Grady, had that far away look in her eyes. Cold and damp with misty freezing rain mixing in with showers of sleet…just when we had had a taste of Spring. Back again at 4am and there was O’Grady with two lambs, one white one next to her and one moorit wandering in the aisle. I was pleased and baffled, fully expecting moorit spotted lambs. She had been VAI’d so I was certain of the sire (no mixing up of the semen straw or ewe). I knew she was bred to Sigurfari.
Jugged up the mom and babes and gave mom her warm sweetened bucket of water and some of the lovely hay we have stashed for lambing. Still wondering about the lambs. Was it one giant spot and one mini spot that I hadn’t seen? Lambs weighed, ram 8.5, ewe nearly 7 pounds, umbilical cords trimmed and dipped in iodine, a couple squirts of Baby Lamb Strength Oral each and back to mom. Helen’s Girl, looking huge and mournful, ready to have her lambs born, was resting with no sign of imminent labor. Sadie, ever wary, was chewing cud and not looking interested in having lambs today, giving me the eye, and reminding me that she isn’t due for 3 more days. Lights off, back to the house. Still freezing drizzle and the dirt driveway had a slippery feel underfoot, and the trees a dusting of ice.
Time for coffee!, no sense trying to crawl back into bed. Puppies out, puppies back in, coffee made, still wondering about those lambs. I could see that AI sire’s picture in my mind, lots of moorit on a spotted sheep, and O’Grady is moorit grey spotted with moorit just on her face and head. Ahh, the light dawns on me, as the coffee hits my brain, and I find the AI catalogue, looking up Sigurfari…that the sire’s picture firmly entrenched in my mind was Skrauti, not Sigurfari! So my giant spot is really a white lamb and the mini spot is a solid moorit lamb. My brain is again engaged, the second cup of coffee poured, let the day begin, Mystery solved.